Sage Baptiste's birthday is on Dec. 30, but this year, the soon-to-be 6-year-old celebrated early.

While his Dec. 8 early birthday party could have been prompted by any number of things -- the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, or the fact that many families are away during school break -- Sage had to celebrate early simply for logistical reasons.

"We had to have it early in order for him to do what he wanted to do," explained his mother, Jodi Baptiste.

So, when Sage didn't open any of his birthday presents at his party, held at Ryan Family Amusements, he had some explaining to do.

"I told [my friends] that I was going to donate my presents, because some kids don't have any toys," Sage explained Saturday, Dec. 15, outside of Target in Wareham Crossing, where minutes before, he'd emptied a big, green bag full of his birthday presents into a Wareham Police Department cruiser during the department's Stuff-A-Cruiser donation drive.

The toys collected during the Stuff-A-Cruiser event, held at both Target and Walmart on Saturday, will be donated to the annual Dick Melloni Youth Foundation holiday toy drive, and distributed to local families in need just in time for Christmas.

"He decided one day that he wanted to donate toys," Jodi said, explaining that at first, Sage talked of asking his birthday party guests bring sneakers for children who don't have them.

Not knowing exactly where they could donate sneakers, and it being the holiday season, Sage and his mother eventually decided on donating toys.

Then, they just had to decide where to donate.

"I said, what charity do you want to donate to? And what did you say?" Jodi asked Sage.

Sage responded: "Church."

The family attends St. Patrick's Church in Wareham, which has a "giving tree" with tags containing toys the church hoped to collect for children in need.

Sage got 10 of the tags, and he and his party guests helped fulfill the wishes.

Of course, Sage also received a few toys for his birthday that weren't on the church's list, and then decided to donate them to Stuff-A-Cruiser. The police department is especially dear to Sage's heart -- his uncle is Wareham Police Officer Karl Baptiste, who helps organize the Stuff-A-Cruiser event.

Sage, a student at St. Margaret Regional School in Buzzards Bay, said he had fun filling the police cruiser, and felt good about helping others this holiday season.

Then, the busy kindergartner was on to his next task: playing basketball at the Gleason Family YMCA.